21/6/2019

Scientists’ road map in fight against deadly fall armyworm

Christopher Muasya, a maize farmer, displays a maize cob ravaged by fall armyworm in his farm in Kangundo. With the invasion of fall armyworm, a marked increase in the use of pesticides by maize growers and promotion of the same by governments through subsidies has been observed. FILE PHOTO | NMG

By PETER KAMAU

In Summary

At a recent conference in Nairobi organised by the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (Icipe), the scientists proposed seven best practices that could help maize farmers curb the pest.

The scientists called for adoption of safe and environmentally friendly options such as use of botanical pesticides and biopesticides to help protect the environment.

Continuous education of farmers and extension officers is an important step to ensure the farmers use sustainable methods of fall armyworm control, which reduce and stabilise pest population to a point where it no longer poses a threat to food production.

Scientists, however, noted the use of chemicals does not seem to work as would be expected.

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Scientists have come up with a road map to help fight the stubborn fall armyworm (FAW).

At a recent conference in Nairobi organised by the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (Icipe), the scientists proposed seven best practices that could help maize farmers curb the pest. These are:

a) Use of diversified maize cropping systems

This includes maize-legume intercropping, which research has shown reduces FAW incidence from 30 to 75 per cent as compared to monocrop.

They noted promotion of diversified maize cropping system has the potential to decrease the need for pesticide application and also conserves natural enemies that can further reduce FAW population.

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The scientists called for adoption of safe and environmentally friendly options such as use of botanical pesticides and biopesticides to help protect the environment.

c) Strengthen research

Sharing of research findings was identified as one of the most important steps in understanding the in-depth biology and ecology of the pest especially in the African context where the climatic conditions are different from North American countries where it originated.